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A robust software development project management tool is a must for developer teams. Project managers are significantly helped by having a hub that connects everything related to their projects, like software requirements and upcoming tasks. Team members benefit by not having to bounce from one place to another trying to find a resource they need.
Communicating directly within a software project management platform enhances team cohesion and improves collaborative efforts, leading to a better software product. Project management software platforms are also ideal for onboarding new team members and helping them quickly catch up with current workflows.
Below are some examples of software project management software that make it a lot easier to track all the moving parts.
(Need a more intuitive project planning process? See how Teamwork.com customers get exactly that.)
What to look for in a software development project management tool
Success in software development means finding the right balance between organization, technical skills, resource management, and problem-solving aptitude. Project management tools for software projects make it much easier for development team members and managers to achieve that goal.
Let’s look at the top features that benefit project managers when deciding on a software project management tool. Teams who work with agile methodologies should also consider the platform’s flexibility and whether it can adapt to their organizational work environment.
Helps your team streamline the entire work progress
How you start a software development project goes a long way toward determining its success. In the planning phase, teams decide precisely what the software must do and how to accomplish that goal. A software project management tool should eliminate the need to store essential documentation and other related information in a separate space.
Centralizing your project items makes it easier for team members to:
Brainstorm ideas
Find software specifications
Outline budgets
Set up deadlines
Create streamlined workflows
You want the ability to form a hub that increases cohesion between team members. As a project evolves, team members remain on the same page when building apps without managers putting in much manual effort. Instead, they can send everyone updates on task responsibilities or other changes through the software project management platform.
Offers detailed reporting and project updates
Reporting gives development team managers a way to review performance on a project objectively. The ability to print detailed project reports is a must in analyzing progress and offering feedback to team members. Managers can look at project timeline details and determine where to make adjustments or what future actions to take.
For example, burn-up charts in a project management tool show what work team members have completed, their work pace, and outstanding project tasks. Seeing the detailed flow lets managers avoid potential issues before negatively impacting the software development project.
The platform should facilitate sending out project updates to individual and team members. You don’t want developers left in the dark about what they should be doing or if they’re falling behind on progress.
Enables secure file storage and sharing
With security remaining a top issue among all businesses, secure file storage is a must for software developers. The last thing you want is for someone to get hold of an unsecured file containing proprietary company information or other sensitive data. Secure file management should be one of the top features you look for in a software project development platform.
The file sharing and storage features should have built-in security to prevent files and docs from getting corrupted or stolen. Users should be able to create encrypted files when transferring important project documentation. That way, there’s less worry about bad actors intercepting files during transfer.
Look for details like how the software facilitates authentication and prevents decryption of files. There may be specific project documentation that you want to make accessible to only a few team members. For that reason, you want software that allows you to set access level controls around who can view, modify, or send out files.
Another feature to look for is the ability to sync files across devices. That means that a developer working in one location always has access to the latest updates made by another user. You can improve efficiency among your team and avoid mistakes that could jeopardize the project.
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Includes message boards for easy communication
With remote work becoming an option for many development teams, face-to-face interactions aren’t always possible. Your software project management tool should have collaboration features, including message boards and instant chat, that make communication easier.
When a team member gets stuck or has a question, they can post their question to the message board or instant message their peers or manager. A lack of communication and team collaboration can be fatal to projects. Using your project management tool to facilitate team interactions makes members more productive and helps everyone remain on the same page regarding project goals.
Project management platforms with robust communication tools help everyone function better and execute tasks successfully. Team members can work in a more agile manner regardless of their current location. Free-flowing conversations about the group’s progress help keep the project momentum going.
Make team collaboration easier than ever with Teamwork.com’s project collaboration software — get started here.
Uses email and desktop notifications
Another essential feature in software project management tools is setting up notifications. For example, a team member might want to be notified when a client sends them back the required documentation they need to complete a task. Managers may wish to quickly inform the team when a project is in danger of going in the red. That heads-up gives them time to research and address any issues before they start affecting the entire project.
Provides clean, easy-to-use dashboards
Software project management tools should have user-friendly dashboard features that visualize task progress. Once development team members start tracking their time and task completion through the features, that information can feed directly into reporting. Project managers can easily track spending on software projects and which projects are moving along faster than others.
Once team members report their time, managers can set up a snapshot of the work done by everyone. That makes it easier to determine if a software project is ahead of schedule or behind. Managers can make decisions around adjusting deadlines, allotting more time for specific tasks, and ensuring additional resources are available where needed.
Dashboards also highlight when projects may be going off track or have overdue tasks. Piping in real-time data gives managers and other stakeholders a more accurate picture of the progress being made on software projects. It also helps when users can set up a workspace that focuses on their specific task items.
7 software development project management tools
Knowing what to look for makes it easier to narrow your list of potential choices for an agile project management tool. Below are some of the top project collaboration tools currently on the market. We’ve broken down each platform by its key features and pricing to help with your decision-making. Some of the companies below offer a free plan or a trial version of their PM tool to try out before signing up for a subscription.
1) Teamwork.com
Teamwork.com is a fully-integrated project management platform that contains tools to facilitate team and client management. The advanced features provide everything necessary to run and track software development projects productively and profitably.
Key features
Multiple dashboard views are available in the form of kanban boards, table, list and Gantt Chart views to visualize your team’s progress
Project management templates that add efficiency to processes
A workload planner to get full visibility on resource capacity
Advanced built-in time tracking to measure time spent on projects and tasks
A profitability report to automatically keep track of profitability across users, projects, and clients
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Pricing options
Teamwork.com offers monthly or yearly subscriptions at the following levels.
Free forever: This level costs nothing and lets you add up to five users.
Deliver: Costs $9.99 per month per user and provides you with all the software’s project management basics. You must sign up with at least three users to access this level.
Grow: Costs $17.99 per month and is excellent for teams with more complex project needs. Requires a minimum of five users.
Scale: Unleashes the full power of the Teamwork.com platform. Contact us directly for a demo and a custom quote!
2) Scoro
Scoro lets software teams create a hub for managing their software development projects. You can integrate Scoro with other software tools to expand its capabilities, including automation.
Key features
Time management features like shared calendars, a built-in time tracker, and timesheets
Insights that help you understand your development team’s current capacity to assist you in making hiring or restructuring decisions
Progress tracking with real-timeGantt charts
Pricing options
Scoro offers you the option of signing up for a monthly or yearly subscription. All plans require that you sign up with a minimum of five users.
Essential: Costs $26 per user per month. You get a variety of features, including calendars, detailed work reports, quotes, to-do lists, and a task board.
Standard: Costs $37 per month per user. You get everything covered under the Essential plan with the addition of features like a Gantt chart, expense tracking, a time tracker, phases and milestones, and the ability to set recurring tasks.
Pro: Costs $63 per month per user. The Pro plan gives you everything that comes with the Standard plan and adds features like a planner, project budgets, a task matrix, billable time tracking, and a utilization report.
Ultimate: You would need to contact the sales team for Scoro to get custom pricing for the Ultimate plan. It offers you everything covered under the pro plan and adds on capabilities like budgets and forecasts, a customer portal, a WIP report, FTP integration, and multi-account reporting.
3) Jira
Jira, from Atlassian, is a popular software management tool because of its numerous capabilities. It complements teams that follow an agile development methodology.
Key features
Workflows that let you set rules for project tasks to the next phase
Reporting that tracks the work assigned to team members, potential bottlenecks, and the time it takes to complete projects
Ability to automate repetitive processes to help save time for development teams
Pricing options
Jira offers development teams the option of purchasing a monthly or yearly subscription based on the number of users. There are four subscription levels with varying available capabilities.
Free: Costs nothing for up to 10 users. Development teams gain access to unlimited project boards, the ability to set up backlogs and basic roadmaps, and reporting.
Standard: Costs $7.75 per user per month. Subscribers get everything at the free level along with:
Access for up to 35,000 users
250GB of available storage
Set roles and user permissions
Data residency
Added support during business hours
Audit logs
Premium: Costs $15.25 per user per month. Subscribers get everything at the free and Standard level, plus:
Ability to design advanced roadmaps
Project archiving
A guaranteed uptime SLA
24/7 support
Release tracks and sandboxes
Unlimited storage
Enterprise: Organizations would need to contact Jira’s sales department for pricing. Subscribers get everything at the Free, Standard, and Premium levels, plus:
Ability to work with unlimited sites
Centralized control of user subscriptions
Centralized security features
24/7 enterprise support
4) Zoho Projects
Zoho developed its SaaS project management tool to meet the needs of development tools. However, it’s also adaptable to other projects like marketing or design. The platform is built around Scrum development cycles to help move developers through their sprints.
Key features
Gantt charts to build project plans
Task management features like milestones, task lists, and subtasks
Specialized task views that display as a detailed list or a Kanban board
Pricing options
Soho offers monthly and yearly subscriptions, with a discount for the annual plan.
Free: Lets you add up to three users and two projects. You can access features like task management, Gantt charts, and project feeds.
Premium: Costs $5 per month per user for up to 50 users. You can add unlimited projects and up to 20 project templates. Other features include project resource utilization, custom views, and advanced task and issue reports.
Enterprise: Costs $10 per month per user for unlimited users. You can add unlimited projects and up to 30 project templates. Other features at this level include automated tasks using Blueprint, the ability to set up business rules for issues, and project budgeting.
5) Basecamp
Basecamp’s user-friendly UI is one of the features most appreciated by project teams. The tool helps facilitate communication between development team members, offers excellent responsiveness, and lets you add various plug-ins to the application.
Key features
File-sharing capabilities
Ability to plan and schedule discussions with team members
Provides progress reports on development projects
Message boards for project discussion
Pricing options
Basecamp differs from other project and task management tools on our list by offering one plan. They charge $11 per month per user, with no requirements around the number of users who must sign up for the platform. Your monthly subscription provides you access to all available features.
6) Redmine
Redmine’s open-source project management software is provided by a volunteer community that provides constant feature updates. Remember that the setup is a bit more complex than some other SaaS offerings on our list. It’s an option for startups looking for a web-based product for their software teams.
Key features
Calendars and Gantt charts to help with planning
Email notifications
Time tracking
Product roadmap planning
Pricing options
This open-source platform is free to everyone.
7) Celoxis
Celoxis offers users both a SaaS and on-premises option for setup. This all-in-one project management platform offers many features you would want to track and manage the progress of software development teams.
Key features
Gantt charts and project tracking
Reporting analytics
Financial management functions
Pricing options
Celoxis provides monthly and yearly subscriptions, offering a discount when you pay annually.
Cloud: $22.50 per month per user with free support.
On-premises: You must contact the Celoxis sales team to get a quote for an on-premises instance.
Manage your software projects efficiently with Teamwork.com
Software project management tools can streamline the business management, team collaboration, and software lifecycle tracking functions necessary for effective software project tracking. You can notify team members about upcoming tasks, perform time tracking, and remain aware of the dependencies required to complete the project.
Teamwork.com’s cloud-based project management tool helps you deliver projects on time and within your set budget. Check out the features available through our platform by signing up for a free demo.
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